Do You Believe in Magic?: Fanola No Yellow Shampoo Review

You know those reviews you come across every once in a while that boast some superhuman results? The kind of reviews that seem too good to be true but somehow you’re holding out hope that they’re really as incredible as they claim to be? I’m a skeptic by nature. Having experienced my fair share of the hair color spectrum I have had previous experiences with shampoos and products that claimed to boost blonde hair and help tone or lighten. Never, NEVER have I seen the kind of at-home results that I’ve gotten after using Fanola’s No Yellow Shampoo. This is a product that is truly worth the double-take.

For those of you who may not be familiar with purple shampoo, it’s designed to help offset the brassy tones that blonde hair adopts over time. I’ve tried several over the last decade or so and none of them have really worked for my hair. In March I decided to lighten my hair again for the first time in about five years and I even opted for the salon brand color depositing deep conditioner from a high end line. It didn’t really do much and even with regular use my hair took on a very warm hue. So I went in search of answers and I came across multiple reviews of the Fanola shampoo. I had asked about it at the salon when I initially got my hair colored but I didn’t get a straight answer which was a little disappointing. It wasn’t their product, so I get it, but still.

Finally after seeing my hair in recent photos I broke down and ordered a small bottle just to try it out…

Before:

The bottle I ordered is smaller, just under 12 ounces and as you can see the product itself is SUPER dark. It’s a little runny so I tried to be careful when applying it because I didn’t want to stain anything.

Following the instructions on the bottle I used the shampoo like normal, on wet hair, and then rinsed thoroughly. Now in the reviews I’d read online some consumers left the shampoo on for a while to get more drastic results. As this was my first experience with the shampoo, I was trying not to get my hopes up. Color me surprised when my shower looked like a paint can exploded in it. My hands, y’all? They were instantly purple. I felt like Lavender as she’s turning into a blueberry in WillieWonka and The Chocolate Factory. So naturally… I sort of panicked. I washed it out and went about my business. But you can see in the picture below, the results were not super crazy.

You can still see that my wet hair has a bit of brassiness to it and once it’s dried the tonality of it is patchy. Some parts are noticeably lighter while others are still a bit orange. Still, had I let the shampoo sit on my hair and respond the way it’s supposed to, it may have turned out different. So I proceeded to do just that.

I tried it again. This time I left the shampoo on my hair for approximately 15-20minutes. Furthermore, I didn’t apply it to wet hair, instead I opted to apply it to my dry hair so that I could focus on the lower half of my hair and let it really soak into the dryer parts hoping that the color would deposit more readily. Behold: smurf nails. Most of the purple washed off my hands but the nails and cuticles were so dry they soaked it right up. As you can see in the third photo, the hair is lighter and less harsh. Still a bit uneven but overall a huge difference between this photo after two applications and the first photos before any Fanola had been applied.

BUT WAIT! There’s more! No really, though. Determined to see just how far I could push this shampoo (now that I was fairly confident that it wouldn’t turn my hair into something I’d have to explain to my boss) I braced myself for round three. That’s right, tribe. This next time I applied a larger amount of the shampoo to my dry hair, combed it through, and let it sit under a shower cap for a whopping hour and forty-five minutes. I’d like to say this was on purpose, but it was more of a happy accident. I had only meant to leave it on for 45minutes to an hour but I got sidetracked and really didn’t notice. But my hair didn’t fall out and I didn’t suffer any sort of pain or discomfort so it’s not as crazy as it sounds. In fact, having left the shampoo to process for so long I actually wound up with hair similar in color to what I had originally left the salon with back in March; my hair had reverted to a sort of dusty lavender balayage which I quite like. And it only cost me $12.99 (+SH) from Amazon. Now I will say that obviously purchasing hair products (or any products for that matter) off of an unaffiliated site can be dangerous. You never know what people may mix in or try to pawn off as a real product. So if you decide to go this route, please do your research first OR be willing to suffer the consequences. I took the time to read the reviews and made sure I was buying from a reputable source. And I’m so glad that I did. Between being able to tone my hair at home and manage my dead ends, as shown in my DIY hair cut tutorial, I’ll be hard pressed to blindly rely on an expensive salon solution anytime soon.

Nighttime indoor lighting:

Afternoon natural lighting:
Alright fam. I hope you enjoyed this review. Again, I’m no licensed cosmetologist and this is just based on my personal experience with a product that I have no affiliation with. I was skeptical of all the “holy grail” hype that this product was receieveing but after having seen it first hand, I can attest to its magnamity. I hope you enjoyed this review and that it helped to answer some of your questions about a very popular product on the market right now. If you’d like to see how I took this look a step further and cut my own hair at home to really freshen things up then be sure to check out my other post under Hair Tutorals. Can’t wait to see what else I may get into? Be sure you’re subscribed so that you never miss out on an exciting new post. Don’t forget to comment below with your success stories if you decide to try Fanola No Yellow Shampoo! I’d love to read them! Wishing you all good things, y’all. Always.

I’m so glad! Best of luck! I am still using this product every now and then even though most of my blonde is gone just because I love the way it tones my hair and makes it so soft. This is definitely a holy grail item.